These two memoirs provide unique windows into the Sumatran past, in particular, and the early twentieth-century history of Southeast Asia, in general. Originally published soon after the Indonesian ...
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These two memoirs provide unique windows into the Sumatran past, in particular, and the early twentieth-century history of Southeast Asia, in general. Originally published soon after the Indonesian Revolution (1945–1949) liberated the island chain from Dutch control, they recall the authors' childhoods in rural Toba Batak and Minangkabau villages. In reconstructing their own passage into adulthood, the writers inevitably tell the story of their country's turbulent journey from colonial subjugation through revolution to independence. The book's introduction illuminates the importance of autobiography in developing historical consciousness and imagining a national future.Less

Telling Lives, Telling History : Autobiography and Historical Imagination in Modern Indonesia

Published in print: 1995-04-19

These two memoirs provide unique windows into the Sumatran past, in particular, and the early twentieth-century history of Southeast Asia, in general. Originally published soon after the Indonesian Revolution (1945–1949) liberated the island chain from Dutch control, they recall the authors' childhoods in rural Toba Batak and Minangkabau villages. In reconstructing their own passage into adulthood, the writers inevitably tell the story of their country's turbulent journey from colonial subjugation through revolution to independence. The book's introduction illuminates the importance of autobiography in developing historical consciousness and imagining a national future.

The moral practices and concepts that circulate in Minangkabau society in West Sumatra, Indonesia articulate and help manage tensions between conflicting values and conflicting experiences of ...
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The moral practices and concepts that circulate in Minangkabau society in West Sumatra, Indonesia articulate and help manage tensions between conflicting values and conflicting experiences of selfhood, particularly the tension between social integration and individual autonomy. The book examines these tensions ethnographically in multiple arenas: the structure of the city of Bukittinggi and its economic life, the nature of Minangkabau ethnic identity, the etiquette of everyday interactions, conceptions of the self and its boundaries, hidden spaces of personal identity, and engagements with Islamic rituals and moral conceptions. Applying the lessons of the Minangkabau case more broadly to debates on moral life and subjectivity makes the case that a deep understanding of moral conceptions and practices, including those of Islam, can never be reached simply by delineating their abstract logics or outlining the public messages they send. Instead, we must examine the subtle, sometimes intentionally obscured meanings these conceptions and practices have for the people who live them. Whether in the context of suffering or flourishing, moral subjectivity always confronts the challenge of responding to and managing the enduring tensions of human selves, which necessarily entail bodily, relational, and reflective dimensions.Less

Caged in on the Outside : Moral Subjectivity, Selfhood, and Islam in Minangkabau, Indonesia

Gregory M. Simon

Published in print: 2014-07-31

The moral practices and concepts that circulate in Minangkabau society in West Sumatra, Indonesia articulate and help manage tensions between conflicting values and conflicting experiences of selfhood, particularly the tension between social integration and individual autonomy. The book examines these tensions ethnographically in multiple arenas: the structure of the city of Bukittinggi and its economic life, the nature of Minangkabau ethnic identity, the etiquette of everyday interactions, conceptions of the self and its boundaries, hidden spaces of personal identity, and engagements with Islamic rituals and moral conceptions. Applying the lessons of the Minangkabau case more broadly to debates on moral life and subjectivity makes the case that a deep understanding of moral conceptions and practices, including those of Islam, can never be reached simply by delineating their abstract logics or outlining the public messages they send. Instead, we must examine the subtle, sometimes intentionally obscured meanings these conceptions and practices have for the people who live them. Whether in the context of suffering or flourishing, moral subjectivity always confronts the challenge of responding to and managing the enduring tensions of human selves, which necessarily entail bodily, relational, and reflective dimensions.

This book is an ethnographic study of moral subjectivity among Minangkabau people, who form an Islamic society in the Indonesian province of West Sumatra. It argues that subjectivity must reflect the ...
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This book is an ethnographic study of moral subjectivity among Minangkabau people, who form an Islamic society in the Indonesian province of West Sumatra. It argues that subjectivity must reflect the multidimensional nature of human selfhood, including its relational and reflective dimensions. It makes the case that the cultural forms through which these dimensions are elaborated and valued need to be understood less as self-contained and coherent moral visions that erase alternatives and more as ways of articulating and managing the inevitable tensions between them. Such tensions emerge in Minangkabau cultural forms that celebrate both social integration and individual autonomy, and also in individual experiences of Minangkabau people attempting to fashion themselves as moral. The book is based on approximately two years of fieldwork in the small city of Bukittinggi, and draws from person-centered ethnographic methods designed specifically to explore subjectivity.Less

Introduction

Gregory M. Simon

Published in print: 2014-07-31

This book is an ethnographic study of moral subjectivity among Minangkabau people, who form an Islamic society in the Indonesian province of West Sumatra. It argues that subjectivity must reflect the multidimensional nature of human selfhood, including its relational and reflective dimensions. It makes the case that the cultural forms through which these dimensions are elaborated and valued need to be understood less as self-contained and coherent moral visions that erase alternatives and more as ways of articulating and managing the inevitable tensions between them. Such tensions emerge in Minangkabau cultural forms that celebrate both social integration and individual autonomy, and also in individual experiences of Minangkabau people attempting to fashion themselves as moral. The book is based on approximately two years of fieldwork in the small city of Bukittinggi, and draws from person-centered ethnographic methods designed specifically to explore subjectivity.

The particular economic, religious, and political history of Minangkabau society in West Sumatra has fueled a moral tension between autonomy and social integration. Minangkabau society, and the city ...
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The particular economic, religious, and political history of Minangkabau society in West Sumatra has fueled a moral tension between autonomy and social integration. Minangkabau society, and the city of Bukittinggi, developed in the image of an Islamic trading society, forged during the social disruption and rapid expansion of trade that accompanied colonial intrusion. In this context, Islam was embraced as a unifying moral framework desperately needed in a fracturing society, but also as one that legitimized individual endeavor. With a social structure rooted in village and neighborhood kinship ties, and an economy emphasizing the competitive marketplace, the resulting moral tensions have carried into subsequent eras of Indonesian statehood, the New Order regime, and the period of reformasi. An overview of daily life in Bukttinggi also reveals these tensions as manifest in a conceptual division of the city—moral as much as geographic—into “the village” (kampuang) and “the marketplace” (pasa).Less

The Village and the Marketplace : The Moral Structure of a Minangkabau City

Gregory M. Simon

Published in print: 2014-07-31

The particular economic, religious, and political history of Minangkabau society in West Sumatra has fueled a moral tension between autonomy and social integration. Minangkabau society, and the city of Bukittinggi, developed in the image of an Islamic trading society, forged during the social disruption and rapid expansion of trade that accompanied colonial intrusion. In this context, Islam was embraced as a unifying moral framework desperately needed in a fracturing society, but also as one that legitimized individual endeavor. With a social structure rooted in village and neighborhood kinship ties, and an economy emphasizing the competitive marketplace, the resulting moral tensions have carried into subsequent eras of Indonesian statehood, the New Order regime, and the period of reformasi. An overview of daily life in Bukttinggi also reveals these tensions as manifest in a conceptual division of the city—moral as much as geographic—into “the village” (kampuang) and “the marketplace” (pasa).

The meanings attached to Minangkabau identity can be read as moral arguments for what society, and properly Minangkabau people, ought to be like. Minangkabau identity is imagined in terms of three ...
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The meanings attached to Minangkabau identity can be read as moral arguments for what society, and properly Minangkabau people, ought to be like. Minangkabau identity is imagined in terms of three interlocking concerns: adat, traditional culture, which is sometimes facilely equated with Minangkabau life; Islam, which is imagined as the basis for adat, but also exists in some tension with it; and conceptions of Minangakbau character, in which notions of individualized autonomy dominate. Conceptions of adat and Islam define the proper nature of an ordered, integrated society, but this order and integration always remain in tension with individual autonomy. This tension comes to the fore when considering conceptions of Minangkabau character, which focus on how individuals maneuver themselves through ordered society, preserving their autonomy in ways that avoid defying the demands for unity and deference as defined by adat and Islam.Less

Being Minangkabau : Imagining Adat, Islam, and Ethnic Character

Gregory M. Simon

Published in print: 2014-07-31

The meanings attached to Minangkabau identity can be read as moral arguments for what society, and properly Minangkabau people, ought to be like. Minangkabau identity is imagined in terms of three interlocking concerns: adat, traditional culture, which is sometimes facilely equated with Minangkabau life; Islam, which is imagined as the basis for adat, but also exists in some tension with it; and conceptions of Minangakbau character, in which notions of individualized autonomy dominate. Conceptions of adat and Islam define the proper nature of an ordered, integrated society, but this order and integration always remain in tension with individual autonomy. This tension comes to the fore when considering conceptions of Minangkabau character, which focus on how individuals maneuver themselves through ordered society, preserving their autonomy in ways that avoid defying the demands for unity and deference as defined by adat and Islam.

There is an aesthetic of social unity created through everyday interactions in Minangkabau society, where mixing in (bagaua) and being normal (biaso) are powerful moral concerns, supported by the ...
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There is an aesthetic of social unity created through everyday interactions in Minangkabau society, where mixing in (bagaua) and being normal (biaso) are powerful moral concerns, supported by the threat of shame. Being sombong, seeming to be set apart from as if superior to others, is considered the epitome of moral failure. Interactions directed toward the creation of this aesthetic, most notably ritual forms of etiquette known as baso-basi, keep individual autonomy out of direct public view. While this aesthetic constitutes a very real locus of moral selfhood, it is not ultimately a way of fashioning or even valuing the self as one kind of thing (socially integrated, deferential) as opposed to another (individual, autonomous), but a way to manage conflicting aspects of selfhood, keeping each in its proper place.Less

The Awak People : The Moral Aesthetics of Social Unity

Gregory M. Simon

Published in print: 2014-07-31

There is an aesthetic of social unity created through everyday interactions in Minangkabau society, where mixing in (bagaua) and being normal (biaso) are powerful moral concerns, supported by the threat of shame. Being sombong, seeming to be set apart from as if superior to others, is considered the epitome of moral failure. Interactions directed toward the creation of this aesthetic, most notably ritual forms of etiquette known as baso-basi, keep individual autonomy out of direct public view. While this aesthetic constitutes a very real locus of moral selfhood, it is not ultimately a way of fashioning or even valuing the self as one kind of thing (socially integrated, deferential) as opposed to another (individual, autonomous), but a way to manage conflicting aspects of selfhood, keeping each in its proper place.

Discourses in West Sumatra concerning the capacities of human selves include Islamic notions of the physical and metaphysical dimensions of existence and the tension between learned reason (akal) and ...
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Discourses in West Sumatra concerning the capacities of human selves include Islamic notions of the physical and metaphysical dimensions of existence and the tension between learned reason (akal) and innate appetites (nafsu). They also include conceptions of moral feelings (raso), such as the emotions of compassion (ibo) and shame (malu), and of a core self (ati ketek). These core selves are understood to remain pure even as people’s engagements with the world—and thus with the influence of the Devil, Iblis—lead to immoral behavior. It is possible for both Minangkabau people and ethnographers alike to excise coherent moral arguments and precise topographies of selves from these discourses by limiting themselves to particular threads within them. Looked at more broadly, these discourses involve tensions and contradictions, and reflect not the cultural fixing of the self's boundaries or its nature, but rather the failure of culture to ever do so.Less

Living with the Devil : Pure Selves and a Corrupting World

Gregory M. Simon

Published in print: 2014-07-31

Discourses in West Sumatra concerning the capacities of human selves include Islamic notions of the physical and metaphysical dimensions of existence and the tension between learned reason (akal) and innate appetites (nafsu). They also include conceptions of moral feelings (raso), such as the emotions of compassion (ibo) and shame (malu), and of a core self (ati ketek). These core selves are understood to remain pure even as people’s engagements with the world—and thus with the influence of the Devil, Iblis—lead to immoral behavior. It is possible for both Minangkabau people and ethnographers alike to excise coherent moral arguments and precise topographies of selves from these discourses by limiting themselves to particular threads within them. Looked at more broadly, these discourses involve tensions and contradictions, and reflect not the cultural fixing of the self's boundaries or its nature, but rather the failure of culture to ever do so.

In publicly obscuring potentially disruptive or troubling individual emotions, thoughts, and desires, Minangkabau people not only work to realize social integration, but also to create and protect ...
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In publicly obscuring potentially disruptive or troubling individual emotions, thoughts, and desires, Minangkabau people not only work to realize social integration, but also to create and protect paribadi (personal) spaces where autonomous selves can be realized and cultivated free from social and spiritual threats. The paribadi is realized, imagined, and protected in part through shared discourses and practices, including the pervasive reliance on indirection in social interaction. The paribadi is also necessarily prone to elaborate individualization as seen in stories told by Ni Saia about her autobiographical poem and Da Luko concerning his tattoos and a battle with a friend carried out through sorcery and never openly discussed. These provide illustrations of how individuals engage in self work through imagining, ordering, and finding value in paribadi things.Less

Fashioning the Paribadi : Indirection and Spaces of the Personal

Gregory M. Simon

Published in print: 2014-07-31

In publicly obscuring potentially disruptive or troubling individual emotions, thoughts, and desires, Minangkabau people not only work to realize social integration, but also to create and protect paribadi (personal) spaces where autonomous selves can be realized and cultivated free from social and spiritual threats. The paribadi is realized, imagined, and protected in part through shared discourses and practices, including the pervasive reliance on indirection in social interaction. The paribadi is also necessarily prone to elaborate individualization as seen in stories told by Ni Saia about her autobiographical poem and Da Luko concerning his tattoos and a battle with a friend carried out through sorcery and never openly discussed. These provide illustrations of how individuals engage in self work through imagining, ordering, and finding value in paribadi things.

The tensions of moral subjectivity in Minangkabau society clash with the totalizing demands and promises of transcendence made by conceptions of Islam and its ethical practices. Shalat, the ritual of ...
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The tensions of moral subjectivity in Minangkabau society clash with the totalizing demands and promises of transcendence made by conceptions of Islam and its ethical practices. Shalat, the ritual of the daily prayers, crystallizes the tension between integration and autonomy, promising its transcendence. However, in confronting the enduring tensions of multidimensional selfhood, shalat sometimes leads to distressing experiences of failure. The engagement with shalat thus does not determine moral subjectivity, but reflects attempts to transcend stubbornly enduring tensions of human selfhood that have become the focus of Minangkabau and Islamic discourses. Given the impossibility of transcendence, notions of belief in Islam are employed in West Sumatra as a way of maintaining Islamic selfhood in the face of ambiguously Islamic practices and experiences. By locating Islamic identity within the self, these notions also provide an alternative to a fundamentalist impulse to overcome that impossibility by attempting to transform the world.Less

Being Muslim Subjects : Essential Tensions and the Promise of Transcendence

Gregory M. Simon

Published in print: 2014-07-31

The tensions of moral subjectivity in Minangkabau society clash with the totalizing demands and promises of transcendence made by conceptions of Islam and its ethical practices. Shalat, the ritual of the daily prayers, crystallizes the tension between integration and autonomy, promising its transcendence. However, in confronting the enduring tensions of multidimensional selfhood, shalat sometimes leads to distressing experiences of failure. The engagement with shalat thus does not determine moral subjectivity, but reflects attempts to transcend stubbornly enduring tensions of human selfhood that have become the focus of Minangkabau and Islamic discourses. Given the impossibility of transcendence, notions of belief in Islam are employed in West Sumatra as a way of maintaining Islamic selfhood in the face of ambiguously Islamic practices and experiences. By locating Islamic identity within the self, these notions also provide an alternative to a fundamentalist impulse to overcome that impossibility by attempting to transform the world.

This chapter explores an aspect of the artistic tradition of the darék—the mystical tiger-capturing songs sung by a shaman and accompanied by his partner shaman on an oblique bamboo flute. Associated ...
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This chapter explores an aspect of the artistic tradition of the darék—the mystical tiger-capturing songs sung by a shaman and accompanied by his partner shaman on an oblique bamboo flute. Associated with a veneration for the ancestors and spirits of nature, the repertory of tiger-capturing songs (dendang marindu harimau, or dendang manangkok harimau) belongs to the most evocative of the traditional vocal music (dendang) of the Minangkabau highlands. As orthodox ulama do not approve of pre-Muslim tiger music and rituals, the shamans begin their performances with Muslim prayers. After providing an overview of the art of the shaman (ilmu pawang) in Minangkabau villages, the chapter describes the songs sung by the shaman in the tiger-capturing process. The character of the tiger-capturing procedure, with the exception of the Islamic prayers at the beginning, suggests that it originated from indigenous religious beliefs and practices of ancient origins, imbued with a mystical respect for nature (especially the tiger) and the spirits, and containing an element of animal-ancestor veneration.Less

Upstream Minangkabau : Music to Capture Tigers By

Margaret Kartomi

Published in print: 2012-06-15

This chapter explores an aspect of the artistic tradition of the darék—the mystical tiger-capturing songs sung by a shaman and accompanied by his partner shaman on an oblique bamboo flute. Associated with a veneration for the ancestors and spirits of nature, the repertory of tiger-capturing songs (dendang marindu harimau, or dendang manangkok harimau) belongs to the most evocative of the traditional vocal music (dendang) of the Minangkabau highlands. As orthodox ulama do not approve of pre-Muslim tiger music and rituals, the shamans begin their performances with Muslim prayers. After providing an overview of the art of the shaman (ilmu pawang) in Minangkabau villages, the chapter describes the songs sung by the shaman in the tiger-capturing process. The character of the tiger-capturing procedure, with the exception of the Islamic prayers at the beginning, suggests that it originated from indigenous religious beliefs and practices of ancient origins, imbued with a mystical respect for nature (especially the tiger) and the spirits, and containing an element of animal-ancestor veneration.